Twilight Party

Angie and I had wanted to have a Twilight party since the DVD release back in March and finally made it happen last Friday. If you're going to have a party based on a movie, then you've really got to go all the way with it, right?

We did a lot of prep, too bad we waited til Friday to find out how much fun it was to do it together.

We did a lot of playing around with food and had some fun games.

We made party bags for everyone that included special necklaces (tutorial tomorrow!) that they could wear that night as well as to the midnight showing of New Moon (for which we all had tickets already). It also had mini packages of New Moon edition "Sweetarts," some butterscotch candies (Edward's eyes), a package of "dazzle" gum and a few other things to use for our games.

First, we played Sculptorades (a la Cranium) and it broke the ice for everyone and they had a blast! The prize for the winners was Edward truffle bars. The losers got Jacob truffle bars. We did three rounds of quote chases. (Everyone brought a copy of Twilight). Each time a person found the quote they got a string a fish to represent Charlie, Bella's dad.

We used 12" dowels with clear thread, wire and large Swedish fish. The person that guessed the final quote received a bottle of La Victoria salsa (representing Victoria).

While we watched the movie, we'd occasionally stop it and ask about the differences between the scene just viewed and the book. The first person with the correct answer would receive a small bag of gummy bears representing Emmett Cullen. They would also be able to hold the gorgeous pillow with Edward Cullen's photo printed onto it that Angie made. If, during the movie, you pointed out any additional differences, then you could steal the pillow. That was so much fun! The person holding the pillow at the end of the game got to keep it. Our final game revolved around the food at the party. As stated before, the food was all character based. Each guest was given a blank list where thirteen characters and their corresponding foods could be written down. The person with the most correct answers would win the grand prize of a black scarf made by Cami. The person with the least correct got stuck with a box of Newtons.

(this was pasted to a package of Fig Newtons)

More examples of Twilight related food (keep scrolling for the entire list):

(this was wrapped around a bottle of Dr. Pepper)

Here is the awesome Twilight cake our friend Tiffany did to represent Alice Cullen

The list:

1. ice-Rosalie Hale
2. Dr. Pepper-Carlisle Cullen
3. Popcorn (base)balls-Esme Cullen
4. Lil' Smokies-Jacob Black
5. Swedish Fish-Charlie Swan
6. bread sticks-Bella Swan
7. Sweet and Sour Chicken-Jessica Stanley
8. Fig Newtons-Mike Newton
9. Gummy Bears-Emmett Cullen
10. Cake-Alice Cullen
11. White Hot Chocolate-Jasper Hale
12. La Victoria salsa-James and Victoria
13. butterscotch disks/apples/cold mint gum-Edward Cullen

One of our guests, Crystal was our big prize winner, snatching up both the Edward pillow and the scarf, but she surpised us, by showing us this amazing Jane cape she made to wear to the New Moon premier. She didn't use a pattern at all. Amazing! We'll have to keep an eye on Crystal's creations!

Happy Twilight!! Come back tomorrow for a movie necklace tutorial (we're wearing ours, if you look closely).

Attention: Crafters!

We at Twiddle-Thumbs get to be part of a great event happening in January called "Get Down with Scrapbooking." Its an annual crop that benefits the Utah Down Syndrome Foundation. Not only is it a great way to crop the night away, but there are endless chances to give to this wonderful charity. Registration for the event (January 22nd-23rd) will open very soon.

(that's Anisa and me on the far right)

In the mean time, we wanted to give you crafters, our readers, out there the opportunity to donate something fun and wonderful to the event. Whatever you make, what ever you do, can be used as a silent auction or raffle item to bring more money to the UDSF. If you are interested in donating a hand-crafted item, email us at twiddlethumbs@rocketmail.com and we'll give you the information you need to do so. You'll also receive a bit of advertising for your Etsy shop or business. All the proceeds go to the Foundation.

(just some of the amazing and fun prizes from last year)

Thanks for reading through this and for reading our blog!

Cami, Angie, and Anisa

1 Craft 3 Ways: Little Monsters

I was a little nervous doing something with monsters for October. Not that I'm scared of them. ;) I couldn't think of anything to make that had to do with monsters. Until this morning. My kids and I were hurrying home from running errands so we could play with a little friend of ours. A playdate....hmmmm....(Can you hear the wheels starting to turn?) The light bulb went on-a way to get my craft done and entertain the kids. They would do my monsters for me! Brilliant!

First I had my son and his buddy each draw me a fairly large and simple monster. This is what I got:

Next, I opened my overflowing box of felt scraps and started cutting, sewing, and adjusting as needed.

Let me introduce you to Fire Dragon and Hem:

And Fire Dragon with Hah (Hem's other side):

The boys loved them. Using the kids art work to create crafts was such a fun way to capture their little imaginations for a long time! Ang

I was so excited to do Monsters. I just recently bought monster bedding from Target for my little boy's room. But I hadn't gotten to the decorating part yet. So, I thought I'd do a little paper piecing.... It's not like I haven't done it before! -Anisa

I've got a couple of monster projects going on at the moment, but this is what was done in time for our post today.

Do you remember those ATC cards I mentioned a bit ago, checking for interest? Well I found an excellent site that regularly does card swaps and I joined a few of them. This is my first card for the theme of Monsters. It's a baby monster's first portait. How nice it is to kill two birds with one stone! I might toss another one of my monster-themed crafts onto the blog later this month, but in the mean time, come up with your own! October is an awesome month to immerse yourself in creepy-crawliness. --C

Thanksgiving Wood Craft Workshops

I can't believe October is half way over... where has this month gone?

Craft Projects this month.....

Square Wreath: $25. I am so excited about this wreath. I hunted all over trying to find these square wreaths... they are very hard to find. This wreath will make a perfect Christmas gift... get your gifts taken care of early!!! We will cut your vinyl out when you come to the class. You can personalize it with your last name or have it just say welcome. It would look great on the door or on a wreath hanger or hanging in your home. I think I'm making a few for Christmas gifts!!! I will have Black, White, Brown and Cream Vinyl. I have quite a few different paint colors, but if you have something specific you want, bring it. I will also have a few colors of ribbon. Turkey Trio: $8 (sorry I had to up the price a little, but these little guys have the bead board. If you still need the stands they are $3) Thanksgiving Yard Stake: $18 This trio is such a great decoration for Thanksgiving. For those of you who don't do the yard stakes, this will be perfect sitting on a shelf. I will make the sign a little smaller and make a base to put the trio on. It's about 12" tall by 18" wide. Dates: Tuesday, Oct. 20th 6-9 pm Wednesday, Oct. 21st 1-3 pm (I have added a day time class. Please don't bring children unless arranged with me. It will be hard enough with my own kids there, but if we don't have too many kids, I can do it.) Thursday, Oct. 22nd 6-9 pm Wed. Oct. 28th 6-9 pm Just as a reminder, this is how craft class works. I supply all of the wood, paint, brushes, etc. You come and paint your own craft and go home with a finished product. All you need to bring is your money and an apron if you would like:) Please let me know what you would like to make by this FRIDAY... Oct. 16th if at all possible.

Cupcake Hotpad

I had so much fun with my "name the dress form" contest last month!!! It was fun watching Brown Sugar and Poly Ester so close the whole contest. I felt bad when Brown Sugar only lost by 5 votes. So, I came up with this cute little hot pad for a consolation prize.

It turned out really cute and how fun to have a cupcake hotpad! I sent it in the mail a couple of days ago, so I hope you get it soon!

Super Quick Placemat Pillow

We've had fun with place mats in the past, (see here) and now we're going to have a little season fun with them. Behold the place mat pillow!

Instructions?

1. Find an adorable holiday themed fabric place mat.
2. Cut a piece of coordinating fabric to the same size as the place mat.
3. Place right sides together and sew around 3/4 of the edges with a 1/4" seam allowance.
4. Turn right side out and stuff to desired firmness
5. Discretely sew open end shut
6. Enjoy your fun new throw pillow that required no embroidery, applique or Ric-Rac.

Want another quick Halloween/Fall pillow idea? Check out this one at la*T*da!

The Holidays

I love the holidays. I love the changing leaves and the crisp air, making fun costumes and treats,

finding ways to show gratitude for my blessing, being with family, carols, brightly lit trees, etc. WAIT!!!!! Whoa, whoa, whoa....Hold on a second. What's the date? It's already October?! The holidays are here, like it or not.

I am not a planner when it comes to planning daily routines, jobs or meals. But when it comes to the big things, I like to think I do pretty well at planning and staying on top of things. I thought I'd share my holiday planner with you. Feel free to tweak as necessary to fit your family and needs, but please don't sell this. (Unless you send me some of the profits. wink, wink.)

My organization journey started about 6 years ago. I joined FlyLady and in the midst of all my emails from her was one that boasted a free downloadable (is that a word?) holiday planner promising a season of ease and comfort and free from the craziness and stress that unfailingly seems to creep in every season. I grabbed it from her site and have used it every Christmas since. (If Christmas isn't your thing, it would be pretty easy to alter to fit your December celebration needs.) Last year, I added a Halloween planner and making it's organizational debut is my Thanksgiving planner. I could not survive the 3 month holiday season without it. It is quite literally a portable brain.

(Side note-my favorite part of the planner is not only do they have a section for gifts to buy- but also one for gifts to make!)

For my planner, I use a regular 1/2" binder. I slipped a cover page in the front and each holiday has it's own divider (kept in a page protector). As you can see, I kept them simple but festive. Following the dividers are my planning pages for each holiday. There are places for shopping lists, traditions, decorations, food, etc. Be hind each set of planner pages I like to keep some notepaper for random notes that don't fit elsewhere. In the Christmas section, I do keep the Christmas card page in a page protector. It gives me an easy place to store stamps, address labels etc. until I am ready to put my cards together.

I hope this makes your holiday season go much smoother. It definitely has helped me.

Halloween:

http://www.4shared.com/file/136874795/5b3716e3/Halloween.html http://www.4shared.com/file/136874799/52815ac8/_2__Halloween.html Thanksgiving:

http://www.4shared.com/file/136874807/6fa78bbb/_2__Thanksgiving.html

http://www.4shared.com/file/136874798/25866a5e/Thanksgiving.html

Christmas:

http://www.4shared.com/file/136874805/81a9ea97/Christmas.html

http://www.flylady.net/images/HCJ2003.pdf More flying through the holidays help.

Happy planning!

Ang

holiday images courtesy Country Living and Better Homes and Gardens

1 Craft-3 Ways: The Essie Doll

One day, I was just thinking about my little girl and how nice it would be to make something sweet and simple just for her. I folded a piece of printer paper in half length-wise and drew one half of a doll shape. I cut, I tweaked, I reformed and THEN I used my new pattern to cut out the form in muslin and gave a set to Anisa, Angie and myself and we each made it our own. I made the doll, keeping open a side seam (thanks, Angie), made her dress separately and used acrylic paint for her hair and lips. I used a fine Sharpie pen for her face. Putting her all together, I realize that there's a lot more tweaking and enlarging to do, but she's sweet anyway. Very June Cleaver-ish as opposed to the little girl look I thought I'd captured.

- Cami

I took my fabric and chopped her limbs off to make a dress form... big surprise! I made her a tiny apron and I'm using her as a pin cushion. (she looks a little weird.. I probably should have cut the skirt shape off of her too.... sometimes crafting is such a learning process).

-Anisa

What started as one idea quickly turned into another completely unexpected idea with this sweet little thing. Originally, I thought of making the doll into a little elf that would show up around Christmas and "spy" on my kids. A few sample dresses later and I realized something. This doll was not meant to be an elf. She was meant to sit on top of my Christmas Tree!

Her leggings were fused on to the muslin cutout with some wonder under. The dress is a separate piece, but hot glued around the neck. The red trim around the neck is also hot glued. I used some curly doll hair that you can get at most any crafting store for the hair. Her face is drawn on with a fine tip Sharpie, and her heart shaped mouth is painted on in a deep red. She was looking a little drab still, so I added some of my own eye shadow and blush to perk up her face a little. I love her to pieces now and can't wait to see her on top of my "mommy" tree. (Anyone want to come decorate the rest of the tree for me though?)

Ang